The present invention concerns a machine for removing blocks of forage from inside a horizontal silo. It has a chassis, the lower part of which is provided with prongs which extend almost horizontally and, at a certain distance above these prongs, there is an arm with a cutting device at its outer extremity.
In a machine of this nature, the arm with the cutting device is hinged to a vertical column. During operation, it pivots around this column in such a manner that the cutting tool traces an arc of a circle and cuts a semi-circular block from the forage mass. The cut surface in the silo thus obtained is not straight, but has rounded notches. This prevents full-sized blocks from being removed in subsequent operations. In addition, on account of the shape of the notches, the cut surface in the silo has a larger area exposed to the air and this causes greater fermentation. These blocks of forage are also unstable, on account of their shape. They can easily topple over which causes them to disintegrate and may, in turn, lead to considerable losses. It is also practically impossible to completely extract the forage from the silo since, on account of the semi-circular cut, part of the forage near the walls of the silo is not removed. This remaining forage must then be removed manually.
In a different machine of this nature, the arm with the cutting device is made of two telescopic elements. The mobile element which bears the cutting device is guided in such a manner that the cutting tool is moved in a U-shaped path. This is carried out by means of a horizontal guiding device which controls the extension or retraction of the telescopic arm, following the path of the cutting device. This arrangement requires several adjustments which make the construction of the machine extremely tricky. In this design, the supporting arm is relatively unstable and this may cause deviations in the level of the cutting device.
One must also constantly check the sliding surfaces of the supporting telescopic arm are clean and well greased in order to avoid friction while a block of forage is being removed. Considerable energy is required to move this arm on account of the friction between the two telescopic elements.